Wan Mei / Seoul, South Korea
Wan Mei stopped the car in the harbour and looked around. It was already dark, but the place was still pretty busy. He would have preferred to continue alone, but those three did not seem like they would just sit around and wait for him. He briefly contemplated just knocking them out and leaving them somewhere safe, then discarded the plan. Master Su had asked him not to cause any trouble. Also, while he could quite easily deal with the Tracker and even the Beast Master, the Assassin was on a very different level. In order to overpower her, he would have to show what he truly was, and even then, it might be difficult if she was on the alert. And she probably was. He could tell she took the whole matter quite personally and blamed herself. Such an attitude could become dangerous.
'We'll get a boat there,' he said, gesturing at a warehouse building, then stretched his arm out to stop the two men from heading there.
'No, you wait here. You are too noticeable.'
'Dude, I hate to break it to you, but you do not exactly look like a dockworker,' Jass said, looking pointedly at the shabbily dressed men around them and then back.
'If all of us go, we'll look suspicious. If I go with a woman, they'll assume they know what I am up to.'
Jass snickered and patted Lia on the head as she grimaced.
'Just cling to his arm and pretend you adore him, why don't you?' he told her.
She looked up at Wan Mei, opened her big green cat eyes even wider and fluttered her eyelashes at him comically.
He smirked down at her. 'Lady, I do hope you have no ambitions in making a career in acting, or you will starve.'
She sighed. 'What is it you want me to do?'
'Just stand there and look pretty,' he told her, taking her hand.
It was small and soft with short pastel pink nails. She did not resist and followed him meekly, though he could sense that she was uncomfortable under all the interested male gazes that followed them. Wan Mei could not blame them. The belt of her dark trench coat hugged her slim waist and set off her rounded hips and breasts. Her head barely reached his chin in her low-heeled ankle boots, and her long chestnut-coloured hair cascaded beyond her slender shoulders. When he was very close, he could smell an inciting smell of violets and something he could not quite identify. It was strangely innocent and seductive at the same time.
'Lady, you cannot have your personal feelings come into this,' he warned her.
She looked at him, then at their joined hands and then up at his face again.
'I hate to disappoint you, Master Wan, but you are not that irresistible. Whatever those sparkles do to other people doesn't work on me.'
Damn it, so she had seen something last night. He had been afraid of that as soon as he had seen her and the Warlock. When he had tried to make her go away, she had shattered his spell as if it were nothing. There was not a single witch in all of Korea who could have done that.
'I meant your feelings about the dead woman and those who caused it. You blame yourself. You mustn't lose control when you confront the Xiang. Don't give into your anger.'
She blushed charmingly, but her eyes blazed at him when she said, 'Is that why Master Su sent you? Because he thinks I'll explode all over the place?'
'No. He wants to help you finish your business quickly and leave without starting a war on his turf.'
'The emphasis being on the fact that he wants me to leave? That's fine. That is what I want, too.' He looked at her sceptically, and she added, 'I never promised I wouldn't break a few of their bones, though. He just said no blood was to be spilled.'
That made him chuckle. When she looked up, he said, 'Don't talk now and lower your gaze. You have a very expressive face. It shows all your feelings. It's best if you don't stare murderously at the old man inside if he starts to leer.'
She made a disgusted sound but nodded. As expected, the old sailor working there did leer and make suggestive comments, assuming he knew what they were up to. Wan Mei glanced down at his companion because he could practically feel her seething. He was confident she couldn't understand the words, but the tone was unmistakable. Nevertheless, she kept her eyes modestly lowered, and the rosy blush on her cheek may as well have been taken for shyness instead of fury. Once they were out, she straightened her shoulders and inhaled deeply.
'Do you even know how to drive a boat?' she asked.
He decided to tease her a little. 'How hard can it be?'
She made to snatch the keys from his hand, but he laughed and brought them out of her reach.
'Lady, you don't even know where you are going.'
'Doesn't that thing have GPS?'
'We should better rely on your blond friend.'
'Please tell me we don't need to row?'
'Of course not. We just need a basic silencing spell.'
She looked up at him curiously. 'Are you a Spell Mage?'
He smirked. 'I'll be whatever you want me to be, lady.'
The girl rolled her eyes, then imitated his smirk and asked, 'Does that mean you can turn into Christ Hemsworth?'
He laughed and led her back to her friends.